Thirty, Forty, Fifty or letting Booth know that she understands
by Flashysocks
Summary: Well, it's pretty much all in the title... Something unexpected helps Brennan to figure out what is going on with her and Booth and why he turned down her proposal.


**_They were engaged... and then they weren't. We're all dealing with it and this little thing is what my muse came up with..._**

Brennan frowned. She held up the bright red tie, the garish green socks and the very un-colour coordinated bright purple pair of boxers and frowned again. After Booth had turned down her proposal, he had started doing more things around the house, including the laundry. She had dismissed the fact as him feeling guilt over having upset her and had accepted the extra help without much more than an appreciative nod when he would tell her not to get up and let him do it.

So, naturally, she had done so, getting more of her work and writing done while she was at home. Now that she looked at the brightly coloured garments, the wheels in her head started turning. She bent over and continued to unload the dryer, where she found even more brightly coloured underwear mixed with her own. _Let's hope he didn't wash all of this together._ She quickly checked to make sure garments that were previously one colour were now – as a matter of fact – not another, and found that he had done a decent job of keeping the colours where they belonged. A soft, wistful smile curled around her lips as she remembered the days he'd always used to wear such blindingly coloured garments. Usually it was even worse when they were undercover. And then... it clicked. All of it...

The only reason he was wearing these garish things, was because he was afraid to lose her. And this time, he stood to lose even more than the last time. Now, he didn't stand to lose just her, but their daughter. An entire family. The enormity of the situation made her heart skip a beat and it made her stomach flutter. He did want her. A frown marred her face once again. _But then why..._ Her grip tightened on his tie as the last piece of the puzzle clicked. _Pelant._ It had to be. There was no other reason why he wouldn't be honest with her. A smile graced her features as a plan formed in her head. She stuffed the hideously coloured underwear back into the washer and went out to buy all the items required for her plan.

When Booth came home later that night, after having spent a Saturday afternoon _and_ evening in the office, working on the backlog of paperwork – not his favourite way to spend a Saturday, mind you - he found Brennan still sitting on the couch. 'You're still up,' he replied surprised. Without saying anything, she got up, walked over to him and kissed his cheek. She whispered her request, which was barely audible even to him, then kissed his cheek again and went upstairs.

"See you in a minute."

Booth frowned, but did as she had asked, which was to _Go to the washroom and count._ He walked into the washroom and let out an annoyed, frustrated little sigh. He bent down and scooped up the mountain of cut up ties, socks and boxers. "Great," he murmured, now what am I supposed..." he stopped talking when he saw the three plastic bag sitting on top of the washer. Curiously he opened them. This time it was his turn to frown. It was a bunch of socks. Remembering her request, he took them out one by one counting them. _Thirty. Thirty pair of normal, slightly boring brown, black, blue, green and white socks._ He replaced the new socks with their cut up predecessors and reached for the second bag. _Boxer shorts._ He repeated the procedure and frowned._ Fifty. Fifty boxers. What in the world are you trying to tell me, Bones?_'Booth wondered, as he placed the black, blue, brown, green and white boxers next to the similarly coloured socks; he reached for the last bag and found an array of ties. _Forty. Forty ties._ He tidied the place up, wondering what he was supposed to think of this. _Is she angry with me? Is that why she cut up my underwear? No,_ he decided. _If she's angry, she wouldn't have replaced them._ He took the three bags and went upstairs. Thirty socks. Fifty boxer shorts and forty ties. He froze midstep on the staircase. No, he realized as a slow, hesitant smile curved around his lips. **Thirty** socks, **forty** ties and **fifty** boxers.

_Thirty, forty, fifty years,_ that's what he had asked for so long ago on the steps of the Hoover. He had never imagined this would be what they looked like. But he liked it. A lot.

He walked into the bedroom and smiled at his brilliant, genius, soon to be fiancé. He approached her and sat down next to her on the bed. "Thirty socks, forty ties and fifty boxers, Bones? Don't you think that's a bit ambitious?" She looked at him and smiled, then leaned in. "No. Not at all. Those horribly coloured garments?" She looked him in the eye with a meaningful gaze. "That's a thing of the past. Those, she pointed to his normal coloured underwear, "That's the present."

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Thank you for reading!

Reviews are love!

There will soon be a multichapter coming! Stay tuned :p


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